Sunday, April 10, 2011

Head Cheese. — Recipe No. 1.—Pig's heads, cheeks, rind, etc., are used. To from to to 12 lbs. of cheek, rind or heads, having three-fourths of an inch of fat, add two shanks thoroughly cooked, cut into pieces about one inch square, adding seasoning to suit. A little finely scraped lemon peel will greatly add to the flavour. Fill into beef bungs or stomachs, and boil three quarters of an hour To give the flat appearance, place a fifty pound weight upon the head cheese, placing it between two flat surfaces. Head cheese is sometimes smoked, but more usually not.

Recipe No. 2.—Take one head that has been in brine for two weeks, with one head fresh; add one heart, one brisket, one lamb or mutton head if you wish. Boil until the bones come off easily. Then chop moderately fine, add pepper and salt for seasoning. Stuff in bungs or muslin bags as full as you can with the hands; tie ends; lay on board and press with light pressure.

Recipe No.3.—The head of the hog, the rind of the sides on which the fat has been left half-an-inch thick, and neck pieces are usually made into head cheese Cook thoroughly and cut into strips of from one to one and one-half inches in length, mix with it 5 ¼ ozs. salt, 2 ozs. ground pepper, 1¼ ozs. whole caraway seed, and if intended for immediate use, the grated rind of one lemon. The whole is to be well mixed. Stuff in hog's stomach or bladder. Cook from half to three-quarters of an hour. Remove and place between two flat boards, on the top of which place a fifty pound weight. This will give them the flat appearance wanted; remove the weight after twenty-four hours. Head cheese may also be smoked, but if left to be smoked four or five days they become hard.

Recipe No. 4.—Take 28 lbs. of side and 28 lbs. of fat and lean neck meat from a hog, 28 lbs. pickled veal cut from the leg, 12 pickled calves' or hogs' tongues, all of which is to be cooked, and cut into strips and mixed with 10 lbs of lean and 6 lbs. of chopped pork, 20 slices of eschallot, which has previously been fried in butter, 18 ozs. salt, 9 ozs. ground pepper, 1 ground lemon peel. Stuff in hog's bladders, boil one hour and treat as in head cheese No. 1.

Juniper Berries and Juniper Wood.—These are both derived from the common juniper bush (Junipcrus Communis) which belongs to the pine genus. There are many varieties of this shrub or tree, but the one which is of interest in connection with food is the common one which is found growing freely in woods and heaths all over Europe. The uses of juniper berries are very many, more especially in connection with medical and veterinary practice. The wood is much used for veneering. In bacon and ham curing the berry and wood are used to impart a flavour.

The berries are used in pickles partly to colour them, but more especially to flavour them. Generally they are used in conjunction with some other flavouring ingredients, such as coriander seed and laurel leaves. The practice is to place a mixture of say 1 lb. Juniper berries, 1 lb. coriander seeds, and 1 lb. laurel leaves in a cotton bag, and allow this to float about in the pickle tank—this latter being of a capacity of about 100 gallons. The juices and flavours of the mixture are slowly extracted and imparted to the meat in course of cure. This addition to pickle is only made when a special article is wanted. The wood of the juniper is sometimes used for smoking hams and bacon. Ordinarily this is done by means of a hard wood sawdust such as elm, ash, or beech, but a peculiar piquancy is derived from the use of the juniper chips. They are scattered amongst the sawdust and are allowed to smoulder. The peculiar flavour of Westphalian hams is largely due to their being smoked with juniper chips.

Lard.—Lard is a term applied to the fat of the slaughtered pig, separated from the other tissues of the animal by the aid of heat. In the crude state it is composed chiefly of the glycerides of the fatty acids, oleic and stearic or palmitic, with small portions of the connective tissues, animal gelatine, and other organic matters.

Kinds of Lard.—According to the parts of the fat used, and the methods of rendering it, lard is divided into several classes. According to methods of rendering, lard is classified as kettle and steam. From material used the following classifications may be made :—

Neutral Lard. — Neutral lard is composed of the fats derived from the leaf of the slaughtered animal, taken in a perfectly fresh state. The leaf is either chilled in a cold atmosphere, or treated with cold water to remove the animal heat. It is then cut into squares in a fat cutting machine,
and passed at once to the rendering kettle or pans. The fat is rendered at a temperature 105° to 125° F. (40"-50° C.) Only a part of the lard is separated at this temperature, and the rest is sent to other rendering tanks to be made into another kind of product. The lard, obtained as above, is washed in a melted state with water containing a trace of sodium carbonate, sodium chloride, or a dilute acid. The lard then formed is almost neutral, and should not contain more than -025 per cent. free acid; but it may contain a considerable quantity of water and some salt. This neutral
lard is used almost exclusively for making butterine (oleo-margarine).

Leaf Lard.—The residue unrendered in the above process is subjected to steam heat under pressure, and the fat thus obtained is called leaf lard. Formerly this was the only kind of lard recognised in the Chicago Board of Trade, and was then made of the whole leaf.

Choice Kettle-rendered Lard —Choice Lard.— The quantity of lard required for butterine does not include all of the leaf produced. The remaining portions of the leaf, together with the fat cut from the backs, are rendered in steam-jacketed open kettles, and produce a choice variety of lard known as "kettle-rendered." The hide (rind) is removed from the back fat before rendering, and both leaf and back fat are passed through a cutting machine before they enter the kettle.

Choice lard is thus defined by the regulations of the Chicago Board of Trade :—

Choice lard to be made from leaf and trimmings only, either steam or kettle-rendered—the manner of rendering to be branded on the tierce.

Prime Steam Lard. —The prime steam lard of commerce is made as follows:— The whole head of the hog, after the removal of the jowl, is used for rendering. The heads are placed in the bottom of the rendering tank. The fat is pulled off the small intestines, and also placed in the tank. Any fat that may be attached to the heart of the animal is also used. In houses where kettle-rendered lard is not made, the back fat and trimmings are also used. When there is no demand for leaf lard, the leaf is also put into the rendering tank with the other portions of the body mentioned. It is thus seen that prime steam lard may be taken to represent the fat of the whole animal, or only portions thereof. The quantity of fat afforded by each animal varies with the market to which the meat is to be sent. A hog trimmed for the American market will give an average of about 40 lbs.; while from one destined for the English market, only about 20 lbs. of lard will be made.

Prime steam lard is thus defined by the Chicago Board of Trade:—

Standard prime steam lard shall be solely the product of the trimmings and other fat parts of hogs, rendered in tanks by the direct application of steam,-and without subsequent change in grain or character by the use of agitators or other machinery, except as such change may unavoidably come from transportation. It shall have proper colour, flavour, and soundness for keeping, and no material which has been salted shall be included. The name and location of the renderer and the grade of the lard shall be plainly branded on each package at the time of packing.

This lard is passed solely on inspection ; the inspector having no authority to supervise rendering establishments in order to secure a proper control of the kettles. According to the printed regulations, any part of the hog containing fat can be legally used.

Lard Rendering. —As practised in Wiltshire. (In some factories fire rendered lard is preferred to steam rendered, but all modern factories have steam equipment). Before adding the ait up fat, heat the lard pans until a little fat placed in the bottom of them begins to frizzle, and keep the mass of fat on the top of them constantly on the move all the time. The fat should be put in gradually. The fire, if steam is not available, must not be forced or bad lard will result. Large lumps will be formed too. Melt steady until the white fat disappears, then increase the heat to swimming point. Finish it with a sharp boiling for three or four minutes, then damp off fire or heat. The sharper it is boiled at this stage the better it will keep. Then transfer to the settling pan, passing all the liquid fat through a strainer. Dip it out of settling pan into tubs, and stir it while cooling, so that the gut fat and flake will mix together. The gut fat if not so incorporated will settle at the bottom. Let it settle eight hours in the tubs. But while dipping it out of settling boiler into tubs, the scraps will be on the boil. As it boils you may heave it on one side and take out the fat boiled out. This should occupy an hour. When all the liquid has been removed, remove the fire and lift out the scrap and put it into the press. If this cannot be done all in one day, it must be remembered that the scrap requires heating again before being put into the lard press. The first bucketful which comes away from the press may be put amongst best lard and the remainder into second quality. This latter may be simmered up when wanted.

Scrap.—If a large lot has to be done do the gut fat first, as there is more scrap in it, and boil it up. The scrap will have to be boiled for an hour and-a-half and put upon a strainer. At same time damp up the fire and push the damper in, and then the pan will be a little cooler. Put the flake into it and melt steadily, but when it starts to boil let it boil quickly for three or four minutes. The flake scrap will only require boiling for half an hour. Steam rendered lard should be boiled at 212°, and not over 220" F.

Ordinary Flick Lard is made by passing the flick through an "Alexander" fat cutter, so that it is cut into pieces of about three-quarters of an inch square. It is then put into a steam jacketed pan
and rendered until the whole becomes liquid. Some lard bleacher is necessary if any discolouration is present (see proportion to use under Lard Bleacher).

Lard to keep ought to have present about ½ per cent. antiseptic—that is ½ lb. preservative to every 100 lbs. lard. The preservative assists in the bleaching process.

Lard Agitator. — Where lard has been first melted, then refined by heating in a second pan, it is pumped up or allowed to fall by gravitation into the lard agitator, which consists of a half jacketed pan of about 15 cwts. Working capacity. In this jacket either steam or water can be let on. The lard is first of all agitated by means of a stirring gear, under heat. When it has been thoroughly mixed, the steam is turned off, and water may be turned on to the jacket, but the cooling effect must not be too precipitate, otherwise the lard might set. When the lard appears to be on the point of settling, or just sufficiently warm to run, it should be run out of the agitator, either into the cold lard filler or into barrels or other packages. The object of the agitation is to thoroughly incorporate the stearine and the oleine which may have been separated in the process of rendering.

Lard Bleacher.—A specially prepared powder for whitening and stiffening lard. It is used as follows :—1 lb. of the powder is dissolved in half a gallon of hot water, and and poured into the pan of lard while the lard is melting. The above quantity does for 100 gallons of lard.

Large White Pigs. —(By Sanders Spencer).—To attempt to describe the original source of the large white pig, would, I verily believe, result in my having to write a history of the original pig of this country, since, so far as I have been able to discover after many years of research and enquiry, there existed in ancient times but one kind of pig in the British Isles, and that one was of a white colour, or a white with blue spots of varying size on the skin. A writer of the eighteenth century when describing the pigs of the country, made no mention of pigs of any colour other than white ones. If we consider this view of the question, it really seems to be quite feasible, as, if we go North to Scotland, to the West into Wales, to the East into Norfolk and Lincolnshire, and make enquiry as to the colour of the pigs in times gone by, we shall have a similar answer, viz., that they were white or white with blue spots. Against this view may be urged that in the Southern and South Western counties are to be found many black pigs ; it is so, but there are still many persons who have a clear recollection of the importation into England of the so-called Neapolitan pig, and the part it played in the formation of the present small black Berkshire and other breeds, or types of pigs found in various localities. No one would contend that the present type of large white pig bears a very strong likeness even to the Yorkshire pig as it existed at the beginning of the last century. Some engravings are extant which lead one to think that the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire pig of the earlier portion of the nineteenth century, was, when matured, an immense and by no means handsome beast, white or white blue in colour, curly hair, coarse in skin, bone, and meat, or at least when it reached two years old. How then, it may be asked, has the vast change been brought about, as the best type of large white, such as the foreigners in all parts of the world have bought, and continue to buy, in increasing numbers, is of a totally different character. The great credit for the first improvement rests mainly with the weavers, mechanics, and others in Yorkshire and Lancashire, who utilised the thin skinned fat producing and prolific Chinese white pig on the big Yorkshire sows, in order to breed a quick maturing and early fattening pig with which to win prizes at the many local shows, which, even in the earlier part of the century were held in Lancashire. Those pioneer breeders appear to have crossed the common sow of the district with the short legged and compact boar possessing a considerable proportion of Chinese blood; then the produce again, would be mated with boars of varying size so that the result would be pigs of almost all types. A few of the more intelligent of the North countrymen selected some of the largest of the pigs bred in this haphazard way, and continued to mate their produce until something approaching fixity of type was secured; again, others preferred the more compact and shorter headed type of pig, which eventually became known as the middle white, whilst a few adhered more or less closely to the smallest and so-called prettiest pig of which several were sent South and crossed with pigs of a somewhat similar type, but with less hair when they bloomed forth as small Yorkshires, small whites, or had given to them a name indicating their place of birth.

About the year 1840 there appeared at the local shows some specially fine white pigs of the large type, these were rather short in the head, fine in the skin and bone, wide in the back, and carried a large proportion of fat meat and lean. Then followed a fancy for producing the longest possible
pig, size and substance ranking highest in estimation. Some immense animals were produced and exhibited locally, when Mr Wainmans and one or two others were Mr Sander Spencer's Pedigree seized with the idea of purchasing and exhibiting some of the best of the so-called large Yorkshires, the result proved profitable, and in the course of a few years the system was adopted by several other exhibitors, including Messrs C. E. Duchering, Mr Peter Eden, Messrs I. & T. Howard, Mr Matthew Walker, and others, the two last mentioned going in for the breeding on a fairly large scale, so that at one time, perhaps, the best large white breeding pigs were in their possession. The Messrs Howard's foreign connection furnished them with good opportunities for disposing of their pigs abroad, and Yorkshire Sow probably to this is due in a great measure the fact, that very few of the present day pigs can be traced to pigs bred in the Clotham Park herd. No so with the herd originally kept at Chaddesden by Mr Matthew Walker; a considerable proportion of the most successful of the present large white tribes are descended from it. During the latter portion of his life, Mr Walker adopted the system then, and now very common, of breeding a few pigs and dealing in as many as could be sold through advertising. This dealing was about that period rendered more profitable by several men of means taking up the exhibition of pigs. To such an extent was this dealing and showing carried on, that about the year 1877, an American stock paper railed at the American pig-men for spending large sums of money in England on so-called pedigree pigs, when, at the Royal Show, a considerable proportion of the winners were exhibited as age and breeder unknown, one exhibitor winning something like seven awards with pigs of which nothing of value was known as to their breeding. Another system which was adopted by North country exhibitors was that of showing pigs when young as of the small and middle white breeds, then as the pigs matured, the smaller ones figured as middle, and the largest as large whites. The only possible result followed: Litters of pigs bred from these royal prize winners would be of all sorts and sizes. It was simply impossible to carry on a herd of pigs in such a way, and what was far worse, it was becoming more difficult to purchase pure bred animals, or even such as would most probably produce pigs of a similar character to themselves. A few of the chief breeders of pigs were of opinion that by establishing a herd book for pigs of all breeds the difficulty would be at an end. For a time it appeared as though success would wait on their efforts, but these hopes have not been realised ; it has remained to a few of the principal breeders of Yorkshire pigs to keep up their own herds to a certain type fixed on by themselves, and to leave other breeders and dealers to follow their own systems. As to the intrinsic value of a really good large white pig for breeding pure, or for crossing on pigs of every kind, or in any country, there is not the slightest doubt; and the large whites are also first rate colonists. Personally, I can write with every confidence as I have exported large white pigs to nearly all parts of the world, to countries with temperatures of extreme heat and cold, and in every country have these pigs thriven well. This I attribute to the facts that the natural colour of a pig was white or grey, and that the pigs in any herd have for many generations been bred on practical lines. It is true that they have been most successful in the show yards of the world, but this exhibition with me has been a secondary consideration, no animal has been kept in the herd after it had proved itself to be wanting in one of the chief qualifications sought in a profitable pig.

The large white pig has of late years been so frequently described, and has been endowed with qualities and form so extraordinary, that I hesitate to give my view of the matter. Perhaps it will be best for me to describe the kind of pig I sought many years since, when I first became enamoured of the large Yorkshire. Quality of bone, skin, hair, and meat were imperative, as a pig deficient in these qualities must fail to be profitable to the feeder or to the consumer. As to the size, I have always found a little pig one to give most satisfaction, a well formed and compact pig being almost invariably a hardy and thrifty one; the boars will be docile and prolific whilst the sows will not only produce large and healthy litters of pigs, but they will furnish a plentiful supply of rich milk for their youngsters. A head of fair length with little jowl and wide between the forehead, shoulders light and obliquely placed, then the floor of the chest will be wide and plenty of room provided for the heart and lungs to work; the ribs should be well sprung, the side long, and the flank thick but not gritty, as are some English and most of the foreign pigs. Width of back is not essential, provided that it be muscular, another sure indication of plenty of lean meat; the hind quarters should be long and wide so that the pig has a wedge like appearance when viewed from behind. About the size and depth of the hams there is a variety of opinion, those butchers and curers who pay attention to the ham trade, naturally think more of a well shaped and fully developed ham than do those curers whose trade is mainly in the ordinary sides of bacon. We hear a great deal about the urgent necessity for size in large white pigs. This is mainly from those breeders or dealers in pigs who are positively unable to pick up at markets or on farms, really good large white pigs, but who can with ease find any number of gaunt coarse boned monsters which require a year or two to mature, and furnish a sufficient excuse for the following most extraordinary foot note to the so-called standard of excellence as determined upon by certain members of the N.P.B.A.

Large bred pigs do not develop their points until some months old, the pig at five months often proving at a year or fifteen months a much better animal than could be anticipated at the earlier age and vice versa" Could a more convincing proof be furnished by the arch enemy of large white pigs of the totally wrong system which has been and is being followed at the present. Just imagine if such be possible. The council of any herd book society lending itself to such an idea, that after having forty or fifty years careful breeding, the produce may grow all or any way, even after it has arrived at an age when the large proportion of the particular variety of stock has given up its life for the public good. The great advocates for pure bred pigs claim, and justly claim, that one of the chief benefits derivable from purity of breeding is the almost absolute certainty, that like will beget like, and that what the young animal is, so will be the matured pig. It may not be out of place to refer to a letter recently written by one of the oldest and most revered of stock breeders in the Eastern counties. It was written as a contribution to a newspaper discussion as to the best breed of pigs for bacon curing purposes. The author of it related that during his long life he has bred all kinds of pigs, save wild hogs, Tamworths, which he considered very similar, and the top eared black, and that no kind of pig had proved as profitable to him, nor furnished at so young an age such fine meat at so little expense, as had the large whites.